So yeah, we rented The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug this weekend - frankly I was expecting it to be pretty bad and was pleasantly surprised that it was only a little worse than that. The reasons for my disappointment are many and varied, but mostly I simply weep for what might have been. Not to say there isn't anything good because there are a number of things to like, but in the end the whole is really much less than the sum of its parts.

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How many deaths shall serve to break at last
This heritage which wraps me in the grey
Apparel of ghosts?

As I said, there are definitely things to like - certainly everything looks great apart from too much CGI, and I do like the portrayal of the dwarves quite a bit. Overall though, I think the additions are largely just bad decisions - we don't need ninety minutes of the Legolas Ginsu Stunt Show or the next installment of The Dwarven Bachelor.

Worse than that though is the minimal screen time given to the bits that actually happened in the book - Beorn, Mirkwood, the Spiders, Bilbo in general. I feel like mood and characterization got kind of lost in the desire to make cool monsters and over the top CGI action sequences.

Beorn: RRROOOAAAAAARRRRRRRRWWWWWWWWRRRRRRRRR!!!! I'm a big hairy bear!Thorin & Co: Crap, a big hairy bear! Let's hide in this house full of farm animals.Bilbo: Look! A giant bee!Gandalf: This is Beorn. He's a werebear.Beorn: RRROOOAAAAAARRRRRRRRWWWWWWWWRRRRRRRRR!!!! I'm a big hairy man! Who hates orcs even more than he hates dwarves so here, ride some of my ponies to Mirkwood.Thorin & Co: Good plan.

I think we're both right - it was 2 minutes that seemed like half an hour.

So, over the holiday I went to see The Battle of the Five Armies. And quite honestly, I have to admit that my prediction of "Legolas wins!" was wrong. While he was indeed still present and still doing the impossible more dramatically then in LotR, he played much less of a role than I expected (which was good, IMO).

Overall, I liked this installment the best although I'd have to go and re-watch the others to really make that claim. As usual, I'm depressed for what might have been and disappointed by the sheer amount of CGI, but I found the whole entertaining and at least a step in the right direction when it came to characterization. Which I guess is more than I'd hoped for.

I went to see the movie as well over the holidays. Once more I went with very low expectations. Which was a good basis as usual. Before going there I had read that the movie is 40% showing off scenery, 50% battle scenes and 10% goodbyes. From someone I heard she and her daughter were rather horrified by the prolonged battle scenes - the film ended up feeling like one long slaughter to them.

I... I did have fun. Which was the goal. Success, yay!

... let's all go and meet that ranger. What's his name again? Oh yes, Strider.

I wasn't terribly impressed with the last movie - primarily because of the completely redundant (and rushed) relationship between the dwarf and the she-elf. =/ It sucked balls, and didn't add anything to the film.

Ah well, all hail CGI violence, nai?

__________________"There's a fine line between not listening and not caring. I like to think that I walk that line every day of my life."
- Private Leonard L. Church, RedvsBlue